


Confrontation of the Doppelgängers

by plagueofskeletons



Category: The Magnus Archives (Podcast), 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia
Genre: Alternate Universe - The Magnus Archives Fusion, Canon-Typical Violence, Crossover, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-01
Updated: 2020-09-01
Packaged: 2021-03-06 17:54:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,742
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26212984
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/plagueofskeletons/pseuds/plagueofskeletons
Summary: “Who are you?” Himiko narrowed her eyes at the entity in front of her, hoping that it didn’t smelled her fear. Its colourless eyes seemed to light up with glee, its shadowy body shaking with echoing laughter. It smiled unkindly with its teeth showed off.“You’re not the first person to ask that.” It said. “And you won’t be the last.”-In which Himiko encounters the Not!Them.
Comments: 7
Kudos: 22





	Confrontation of the Doppelgängers

**Author's Note:**

> *listens to the Not!Them statements over and over while writing this*

Himiko cackled wildly as she ran out of the convenience store, the crinkling of chip bags and sloshing bottles of drinks emitted loudly from her swinging backpack. By the time she heard the shouts of the owner, Himiko had already turned a corner to the next block. 

The city streets were busy as always in the afternoon but no one paid any attention to Himiko. Even with her current disguise as a pretty black-haired girl with birdy features (Himiko loved this look so much that she had two full jars of the older girl's blood!), nobody batted an eye at her. Some had simply stepped aside when they caught Himiko running. That was one of the benefits why she would _never_ leave the city and try to hide in some dumb countryside like Hakone; everyone was used to rushing and seeing students in a hurry. Plus, there were a hundred and thousands of people so even if someone would recognize Himiko, she would disappear in the crowd like always.

Eventually, Himiko slowed down to a skipping pace. She let go of one of the backpack straps so she could pick out which snack she would like. She had been carrying a box of strawberries in one hand but Himiko wanted to save them for the last. She picked out a box of pocky and started munching on them happily. Himiko waved her arms by her side as a perfect cover for snatching a wallet from a random man, taking out only the several bills of one thousand yen and a train pass. She had no plans to go to the train station at the moment but Himiko always liked to be prepared. Like how she needed to find a new place soon.

Luckily, Himiko set her eyes on one of the fancy condos and immediately headed over to the front doors. The entryway had buzzers with the name of tenants beside each single one. Himiko tapped her chin in consideration, but before she could pick and choose, she heard the doors opening again. When she turned around, Himiko saw a middle-aged woman with finned ears and neon green eyes, holding a bike beside her. The woman barely glanced at Himiko as she unlocked the second door and walked inside the foyer. 

Being one without missing an opportunity, Himiko started to follow the woman's footsteps.

She forced herself to stay calm on the outside, excitement bubbling violently in her stomach. Himiko kept biting the inside of her cheek to suppressed her new, creepy smile when she went inside the elevator with the woman, who pressed the seventh floor. But as the elevator started to go up, Himiko felt the telltale electricity of stubbornness and desperation to grab her knife and stab this nameless woman _now_ and suck her blood, let it soak through her clothes and cover her skin, and _become her-_

Himiko shook her head. Her free hand was already reaching out to where she pocketed her knife but she told herself _no, not now._

The elevator dinged. Himiko watched as the woman stepped out, the chains of her bicycle clicking as it moved. Himiko stayed for two seconds longer before she left as well. She followed the woman with her eyes with anticipation as she walked down the hallway and stopped at her door. The woman looked up and abruptly met Himiko's eyes. The teen swallowed back a squeak and turned around, promptly marching down the opposite hall. She even patted herself to check that her disguise was still on. When the sound of a door unlocking came to her ears, Himiko checked over her shoulder and saw the woman going inside. A second later, the door was closed shut. 

_Now._

Himiko double-checked the empty corridor as she strode down to where the woman lived. She stopped by the edge of the door and crouched down, unzipping one of her backpack's pockets where she kept her important tools. Himiko pulled out a couple of hairclips, used from previous lock pickings. She scooted closer to the door and pressed her ear against the wood. Not quite so loudly, Himiko heard the sounds of music being turned on and some clattering in the kitchen. Right away, she got to work, still keeping her ear pressed for the familiar click of the lock.

_Click_ went the lock and Himiko deliberately held onto the handle, slowly opening it. Thankfully, the door did not creak but Himiko was greeted by a rather loud hip-hop song that she didn't like. She snuck into the apartment and shut the door quietly. As Himiko pulled out her knife, she observed the place for a bit.

It was super nice and clean! It was obviously modern with brown wooden floors and some plants placed here and there. The bike leaned against the wall just next to Himiko. The apartment's foyer gave Himiko a view of the living room, the open doors to the balcony, and a peek of the kitchen, where she could hear the dishes clattering and the woman pacing about. The girl let her Quirk fall, the goop dripping down as she crept closer to the kitchen. 

The woman was looking into the fridge, its reflective door right in front of Himiko. For a few seconds, she stared into herself as the face of Toriko - the one whom Himiko had been for a few hours - disappeared, her normal face with the buns and cat eyes looking back in the vague and slightly warped surface. Just as the fridge closed, Himiko pounced, stabbing the blade into the woman's throat.

The lady did not screamed. She had only gurgled in her blood as it spewed out like a fountain. Himiko stabbed her again in the shoulder this time. The woman merely twitched, her life already swept away. Himiko leaned close to catch the spraying blood. Most of it splashed on her face but she managed to tasted the coppery droplets. Almost right away, Himiko felt herself Transformed. 

As much as Himiko wanted to admire her new look, she still had a bit of work to do. First, she walked to the living room to drop her backpack on the couch. She delicately placed her bloody knife and box of strawberries on the coffee table before she headed back to the dead woman. With help of her new muscular arms, Himiko was able to drag the body easily along the floor from the kitchen to the living room. It wasn’t a perfect spot but Himiko did not wanted to end up tripping over the body every time she would go to the kitchen. She dropped her disguise once again and began exploring the apartment.

The bedroom looked very cozy, especially with its large bed and fuzzy blankets. Himiko looked through the closet and picked out the clothes she liked the best - a couple of cute summer dresses, a knee-length skirt, and a few bright-patterned T-shirts. She threw them on the bed and took one of the dresses in her arms as she skipped over to the bathroom. 

About ten minutes later, Himiko felt clean and refreshed, now dressed in a pink summer dress with her sweater tied around her waist. Her hair was down and still wet but she didn’t care. This was her home for now and she can do whatever the heck she wanted! 

Himiko skipped out of the bedroom, heading back to the living room so she could eat her stuff. But when she had gotten there, she stopped in her tracks. Her heart began to beat wildly against her ribs.

Because there was something else in the living room. 

Himiko did not wanted to referred it as a person because it looked far from a normal human being. Sure, it definitely should have been a mutation Quirk but Himiko had a strange feeling that the possibility was very unlikely. The... _thing_ was tall enough for its head to reach the ceiling. It had a dark, shadow-like body with long limbs that Himiko counted as too many with a similar number of joints. Its face, which was now staring at Himiko with a readable expression of confusion and fury, was blank of any noticeable features other than a sharp-toothed mouth and wide, unblinking glowing white eyes that had no irises or pupils. 

Since she was four, Himiko had always been scared. Scared to stay true to herself and scared of disobeying her parents’ rules. Even when she ran away, Himiko still had the fear of being caught by the authorities who might glue on the same mask she had broken out of as if throwing her in prison wouldn’t be enough. That fear had been shrinking to nearly non-existent when Himiko proved herself to be too stealthy and fast to get caught for long, especially when she wanted to have more fun in her life.

But she had a new fear, one that she would never have again as she kept staring at the creature in front of her. 

The Thing snarled at her, or maybe it grinned? Himiko couldn’t tell even though she looked at its face, which she noticed that it seemed to warped around slightly. “That was _my_ meal!”

Himiko blinked. “Huh?”

”She was mine!” It pointed at the woman’s body with one of its thinned fingers. “Today was the day that I would eat her life and become Barayama Oriya! The one that everyone knew and nobody recognized! Yet _you_ , a strange weird little girl, came here and, and killed her instead!”

The Thing leaned close to Himiko’s face so suddenly that the girl made a step back. Even more weirdly, she did not smell anything that came out of its breath that blew to her face.

“Who are you?” Himiko narrowed her eyes at the entity, hoping that it didn’t smelled her fear. Its colourless eyes seemed to light up with glee, its shadowy body shaking with echoing laughter. It smiled unkindly with its teeth showed off.

“You’re not the first person to ask that.” It said. “And you won’t be the last even if you could tell me _what’s your deal?”_

Himiko thought fast. Her knife was still on the coffeetable but it was a little far from her reach. Even with the best of her abilities, Himiko had knew that the entity would be quicker to move and kill. So, she was left with the best option. 

“It’s a contest!” Himiko said cheerily and clasped her hands behind her. She felt a faint wave of relief over her as the creature reared back and stared at her with the most confused face that Himiko would certainly remember.

”A... _what?!”_ The Thing asked with bewilderment, its eyes flickering back and forth from Himiko to the body of poor Miss Barayama. 

“Yep!” Himiko popped the ‘p’ with her lips. “It’s a contest of some of the best killers in Japan! I guess you just missed it~” 

“Wait, wait, what contest?” It demanded. “I have never heard of such _ridiculous_ thing!” 

“Are you sure though?” Himiko allowed herself to hop a few steps away from the entity, which simply followed her movement with its blank eyes. “Because it was sponsored by...” Himiko panicked in the inside for a couple of seconds as she scrambled to think of a name. But another idea helped her. She let herself to feigned hard-thinking. “Geez, their name is at the tip of my tongue! I swear! I mean, they did all used aliases and such but still...”

”Do you mean... are you talking about the Stranger? And the Circus?” The creature asked, sounding slightly hopeful. 

Himiko snapped her fingers. “Yeah! That’s them! Yeah, we had that meet-up just last night.” She clapped her hands in front of her as she stepped to the side, keeping her eyes focused on the Thing. “Basically - the details are boring to be honest - we have a competition where we have to kill _a lot_ of people by the end of the next week so we can earn a _prize~”_

The Thing’s eyes narrowed and it growled. “I have never heard of such bullshit like this! I am _close_ to the Stranger and I _know_ that if the Circus was up to something like this, then I should have heard of it! Hell, this sounds more like the Slaughter’s taste.”

As it began to rant, Himiko examined its structure once again. Even when it was beyond normal, she guessed that there _must_ be some arteries. How else did it lived, breathed, and spoke? Would its blood be the regular red? Or would it be a different colour like few of the other people Himiko had killed in the past? Would it even _bleed?_ Himiko tried to passed the last question away as she finally stood next to the coffee table. She glanced at the Thing but it was still talking and distracted with itself. 

_Good._

Himiko swiftly grabbed her knife's handle and lunged forward at the Thing. She caught surprise in its face as she thrusted the blade into its neck. The flesh was solid, thank god, but it felt strangely heavy and hard that Himiko didn't have enough time to slash it all the way to the other side before the Thing _screamed._

The sound was unlike anything what Himiko had heard of. It shrilled like a falling glass chandelier had overwhelmed the screeching of fingernails on a chalkboard. Maybe it sounded like that with how her ears rang dangerously at the scream. She felt a large hand groping her torso and then she was in the air. Himiko almost managed to do a perfect somersault when she hit the floor, but the back of her head knocked against the hard wood. Spots scattered her vision when she shakily stood up and watched the Thing scrambled and twisted itself in front of her. Every time it moved, yellow-coloured blood sprinkled the room. 

_No, not blood._ Himiko thought hazily as she smelled an intense dust instead of the metallic liquid. _It's sand. It's bleeding_ sand.

She looked over her shoulder, her eyes immediately caught on the block of knives that slumbered there. She hurried over and pulled out the handle of a steak knife. Himiko almost put it back for a different, _bigger_ one but the Thing's growl changed her mind. 

"You clever _bitch._ " If it sounded dangerously close to a human being, then it no longer was, exchanging its voice for a rabid fox. "If I hadn't realized you were no avatar, you would have been a good fit for the Hunt and even that _damned Eye-"_

Himiko let out her own war cry as she dashed forward and plunged the steak knife into the Thing's left eye. It screamed its broken glass horror again as a geyser of sand erupted from the spot. Himiko gave her own snarl as sharp fingers impaled through her dress and into the soft flesh of her back. She tried to moved away but instead, she remained in the Thing's grasp as it scrabbled backwards to the baloney. She braced herself when they both fell over and pushed her feet down at the creature's shallow chest. The second the ground welcomed them, Himiko jumped up and away, feeling the Thing's fingers torn away from her back. She did another somersault on the asphalt, slightly more successful this time.

Panting heavily and feeling the oozing trails of blood on her back, Himiko stared at the Thing while it twitched and tried to get up. There were already mounds of sand surrounding it, seemingly empowered by its weak attempts. Finally, the Thing stopped and dropped all of its limbs. 

Himiko had the time to let out a sigh of victorious relief before a scream stopped her. A human scream. She whipped her head up to see two women and young boy staring at her and the Thing. There was also a crowd of passerbys and nearby cars slowing down. Himiko cursed under her breath and ran off from the witnesses, ignoring their shouts and the pain that shot through her back.

It was halfway to the second block in the alleyways that Himiko remembered that she had left her belongings behind. She kept running anyways. She always found new stuff and blood at the end of the day. Besides, she wasn't going to spend the rest of the day in that condo where the Thing used to be. 

**Author's Note:**

> Find me at [Tumblr](https://plagueofskeletons.tumblr.com)


End file.
